Voice of the Earth and Space Science Community

I woke up to the news the day after the Haiti earthquake and thought: one more human tragedy that did not have to be.

My family moved to Santiago, Chile one month before the great 1960 Chilean earthquake—the largest earthquake to ever have been recorded by seismometers. I was five years old and grew up to study it for my doctoral thesis at Columbia University. I had switched from astrophysics to geophysics in graduate school because I wanted to do something which would help people in Latin America. I thought that if I could understand and better anticipate earthquakes, I could help save lives.

Yet time after time human tragedies continue in spite of what geoscientists know about where earthquakes are likely to occur. We know that tsunamis follow giant earthquakes in subduction zones and that poorly constructed buildings kill people. And yet the bodies still pile up. Just in this century, the world mourned 31,000+ dead in Iran’s Bam earthquake in 2003, 220,000+ dead in the 2004 Indonesian earthquake and tsunami, 86,000+ dead in the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and 69,000+ dead in China’s 2008 Sichuan earthquake. And now in Haiti 100,000 to 200,000 people have died, an equal number are injured, millions are homeless and so many children are orphaned.

Is our field failing the citizens of this planet? We have all this knowledge, but people continue to die.

And so I find myself thinking that a critical step in our scientific process is missing. We collectively lack the ability to get what we know into the hands of those who need it and in a form that they can understand and use.

So here’s the key question: What can Earth scientists in general and AGU in particular do to better communicate what we know to governments, civil defense officials, engineers, architects, international aid organizations, and the public? Please share your thoughts!

Comments

7 Comments

Sergio Mora wrote a very good article last year in JGS concerning this topic. One of the things he suggests is getting officials to view risk management as an investment rather than a cost. It is a very good paper, in my humble opinion at least. I had the opportunity to listen to his keynote talk at the 1st North American Landslide Conference back in 2007, he was saying very similar things then too.

Thanks Bryan. I have been reading about Sergio Mora’s work. I agree with him that risk management has to be viewed as an investment but I would add that the UN, World Bank, and other organizations that invest millions even billions in countries where natural hazards are devastating must do so as well. It is unconscionable that 30 UN employees died in Haiti because their offices were in a building that collapsed.

I’m not sure that Haitian officials lacked information about building codes in more developed countries, but no one thought there was a serious threat, since there had not been a significant earthquake in Haiti since the country became independent in 1804. Even if local officials had placed the quake threat level somewhat higher, what could they really do to insist on better construction methods in a place where most poor people erect their own dwellings, using materials at hand? Even in San Francisco, as USGS staffers pointed out during a press field trip a few years ago, homes are typically built over street level garages that are large, unsupported spaces and therefore likely to fail in an earthquake. Earthquake knowledge–and experience–are clearly not lacking in S.F., nor is the money to build safer structures.

I understand that Haitian officials would not have seen the earthquake hazard as something to spend money on given all the needs. However I do expect the UN, Doctors Without Borders, and other international organizations to take this into account when investing in countries that sit on plate boundaries. Geophysicists have known about the threat in Haiti for decades. You are right about SF since there are houses in Daly City built astride the San Andreas fault. These were built after the 1906 earthquake.

The government is to blame, though, just not in the way that you think. Property rights in Haiti are nearly non-existent, which makes it impossible for anyone to own a business, and create enough capital to build anything more complicated than an a-frame shack. The actions of the Haitian government, and governments around the world, have practically guaranteed the continued poverty of Haiti.

Religious leaders both in Haiti as well as the funding sources beyond, need to be confronted with their assumption that “God” is not in the findings of geophysicists. This is a dangerous fundamentalism that has led to irresponsible school buildings. Once they realize that it is blasphemy to erect in “God’s name” a deathtrap school, they will begin to listen.

Attention needs to be given to Caribbean tectonics. The transform fault motion of the Haitian Earthquake, as well as those of lesser magnitude in other areas, may indicate that Plate motion may be increasing in patterns of increasing stress. A program to evaluate, educate, and prepare for this possible increase of danger from potential earthquakes and tsunami. One educational program for simple education and construction of earthquake braced small buildings on high stable ground would save lives and businesses. I had read an article years ago about cross-bracing the walls of small buildings with sturdy timbers because that does not collapse. I remember a picture of a small dwelling that protected its residents in the Turkish earthquake. It was about as small as a little storage building, with a dirt floor, and its walls were basic cross-timbers. It would be great to provide people who need shacks with building plans. These should be easy to see what to do to build one, visual drawings being more important than any language. The earthquake braced simple shack on stable ground up high from any tsunami is best for survival during periods of increased plate motion.

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